Top Pharmaceutical Companies

Pharmaceutical companies are those that work in the medical sector, specifically those involved with the manufacturing, Marketing and sale of drugs. These companies hold licenses to perform research on different types of drugs, and are also responsible for preparing and marketing those drugs.

Licensure is mandatory and is controlled by the government of the companies’ home country. There are currently about 200 major pharmaceutical companies in the world; all are in competition with each other to make new and more marketable medicines.

This competition theoretically provides patients with new, more effective, and less costly medicines. Some pharmaceutical companies produce bio-pharmaceutical drugs by working with living organisms and biological systems. This type of research is becoming more widespread.

List of Top Pharmaceutical Companies in World

Rank

Company

Address

2015 RX Sales (USD in min)

2015 R& D Spend (USD in min)

1

Pfizer

New York

43112

7678

2

Novartis

Basel, Switzerland

42467

8465

3

Roche

Basel, Switzerland

38733

8452

4

Merck & Co Inc

Kenilworth, New Jersey

35244

6613

5

Sanofi

Paris, France

34896

5638

6

Gilead Sciences

Foster City, California

32151

3018

7

Johnson and Johnson

New Brunswick, New Jersy

29864

6821

8

GSK

Brentford, England

27051

4731

9

AstraZeneca

London, England

23264

5603

10

AbbVie

North Chicago, Illinois

22724

3617

11

Amgen

Thousand Oaks, California

20944

3917

12

Allergan

Irvine, California

18403

2781

13

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries

Petach Tikva, Israel

16982

1525

14

Novo Nordisk

Bagsvaerd, Denmark

16054

2024

15

Eli Lilly

Indianapolis, Indiana

15792

4478

16

Bayer

Leverkusen, Germany

15558

2588

17

Bristol-Myers Squibb

New York, New York

14480

4037

18

Takeda

Osaka, Japan

12565

2776

19

Boehringer Ingelheim

Ingelheim, Germany

12348

2802

20

Astellas Pharma

Tokyo, Japan

10937

1960

21

Mylan

Canonsburg, Pennsylvania

9291

652

22

Biogen Idec

Cambridge, Massachusetts

9189

2013

23

Celgene

Summit, New Jersey

9069

2295

24

Merck KGaA

Darmstadt, Germany

7693

1454

25

Daiichi Sankyo

Tokyo, Japan

7215

1618

26

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International

Mississauga, Ontario

7013

333

27

Otsuka Holdings

Tokyo, Japan

6728

1596

28

CSL

Melbourne, Australia

6294

564

29

Baxalta

Cambridge, Massachusetts

6148

1176

30

Shire

Dublin, Ireland

6100

884

31

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries

Mumbai, India

4503

297

32

Les Laboratoires Servier

Neuilly- Sur-Seine, France

4470

1122

33

Eisai Co

Tokyo, Japan

3909

1043

34

UCB

Brussels, Belgium

3763

1151

35

Abbott Laboratories

Abbott Park, Illinois

3720

137

36

Fresenius

Bad Homburg, Germany

3709

375

37

Grifols

Barcelona, Spain

3365

235

38

Chugai Pharmaceutical

Tokyo, Japan

3297

677

39

Cheiljedang

Seoul South Korea

3228

N/A

40

Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals

Dublin, Ireland

2976

185

41

Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma

Osaka, Japan

2902

684

42

Endo Health Pharmaceuticals

Dublin, Ireland

2856

46

43

Menarini

Florence, Italy

2836

N/A

44

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals

Tarrytown, New York

2689

1621

45

Alexion Pharmaceuticals

Cheshire, Connecticut

2603

544

46

Aspen Pharmacare Holdings

Durban, South Africa

2586

2

47

Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma

Osaka, Japan

2542

609

48

Nestlé

Vevey, Switzerland

2431

N/A

49

Meda

Somerset, New Jersey

2139

108

50

Hospira

Lake Forest, Illinois

2131

247

Source: http://www.pharmexec.com/

Companies will often modify old products in order to increase sales and efficacy. Many pharmaceutical companies are also trying to understand traditional medicine and attempting to develop effective, modernized versions of these.

For the purpose of research and making new medicines, pharmaceutical companies invest heavily in laboratories. These laboratories provide scientists and chemists to look for the roots of and possible cures for diseases. They mainly conduct research on cellular structure and genetics.

Once potential drug formulas are discovered, a company tests those drugs on certain animals in their laboratories. Such clinical testing requires government approval. Once the permission is granted, the three-stage clinical test procedure starts. These tests are meant to find out the exact effects of the drug on human beings.

After obtaining satisfactory results, companies work through marketing representatives to promote their drugs. These representatives convince doctors to prescribe the product, meaning that doctors play a major role in the fate of the company.eful for the customers and turning out to be a winning strategy.